Mexican Navy says captures top drug boss “El Coss”

Reuters, 9/13/12

The Mexican Navy said on Wednesday it had captured one of Mexico’s most wanted drug bosses, the head of the Gulf Cartel, in what would mark a major victory in President Felipe Calderon’s crackdown on organized crime…

Islas said he expected Costilla to be extradited to the United States, and that his testimony could prove damaging to officials in Tamaulipas and neighboring Veracruz state, which has also been dogged by allegations of corruption…

With Costilla’s apparent capture, the cartel is looking increasingly weak, and bloody turf wars for control of the northeastern border with Texas would now intensify. “There will be an increase in violence there,” Islas said.

The stage was now set for increased hostilities in the region between Mexico’s two most powerful gangs, Guzman’s Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas, he noted.

This could prove a headache for Pena Nieto, who has vowed to quickly reduce the number of beheadings and mass executions. There have been more than 55,000 drug-related deaths in Calderon’s six-year offensive against cartels.

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Mexico Extradites Suspected Hezbollah Member

Fox News Latino, 9/11/12

Mexican authorities have arrested and extradited a U.S. citizen with  suspected ties to the Lebanese extremist organization Hezbollah, according to  news reports.

Rafic Mohammad Labbon Allaboun was arrested Saturday in an operation  coordinated by Mexico’s National Migration Institute and the Secretariat of  Public Security, according to Mexican daily El Universal.  He was detained in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, along with two other foreigners  wanted in the United States.

Once a prominent Muslim leader in Northern California, Labboun spent over two  years in prison for credit card fraud, CBS News reports.  Authorities suspected that the $100,000 in credit card fraud was linked to  Hezbollah’s money laundering activities, but could not prove the charge in  court.

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Mexico ‘Zetas leader’ Rejon Aguilar extradited to US

BBC, 9/11/12

Mexico has extradited an alleged founder member of the powerful Zetas drug cartel to the United States…

Mr Rejon Aguilar, also known as El Mamito, is alleged to be the third in command of the Zetas, a drug gang formed by former Mexican special forces soldiers.

He was handed to DEA officers at Toluca airport on Tuesday.

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The “Queen of the Pacific” will be Extradited to the U.S. [in Spanish]

Maria de Luiz Gonzalez, El Universal, 6/8/12

A federal court authorized the extradition to the U.S. of Sandra Ávila Beltrán (the “Queen of the Pacific”) on Thursday June 8th so that she can be tried for trafficking 100 kilograms of cocaine into Chicago in 2001.  This is one of  two charges for which the American authorities want to try her…

This was a modification of a federal resolution from a few months ago in which a federal judge ruled that “The Queen of the Pacific” had a clean slate and that she would not be extradited.

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Colombia, Mexico to Sign Extradition Treaty

InSight Crime, 7/22/11

Colombia and Mexico have negotiated an extradition agreement that will allow nationals of each country to be send to stand trial in the other country.

The previous treaty only allowed for the extradition of foreigners between the countries.

The two presidents will sign the treaty when Colombia’s leader Juan Manuel Santos visits Mexico in August

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Mexico extradites alleged Tijuana cartel leader

Associated Press, 12/14/2010

The U.S. Justice Department says an alleged leader of Mexico’s Arellano Felix drug cartel has been extradited from Mexico to face criminal charges in San Diego.

A 2003 federal indictment says Rigoberto Yanez was the Tijuana-based cartel’s main representative in Mexico City and their initial point of contact with Colombian drug traffickers.

Yanez is among 15 people who have been extradited to the United States from Mexico over the last week. They include Jose Manuel Escobedo, who was convicted of drug charges in 2004 in Texas and escaped from prison while serving a 10-year sentence.

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15 accused criminals, drug traffickers extradited to U.S. from Mexico

CNN International, 12/15/2010

Fifteen Mexican defendants charged in the United States with crimes ranging from murder to money laundering to drug trafficking have been extradited to the U.S., the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Secretly spiriting the subjects described as “dangerous and violent” from Mexico has been taking place over the past five days, authorities revealed Tuesday. The last three were flown to Chicago Tuesday afternoon to stand trial on narcotics trafficking offenses.

Nine were whisked to waiting lawmen in Houston on Saturday. Three others were flown to different U.S. locations to face state charges.

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Alleged drug trafficker extradited by Mexico to US

Houston Chronicle, 12/12/2010

A suspected Mexican drug gang leader linked to a 2006 border incursion by armed traffickers into Texas has been extradited by Mexico to the United States., the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas have said.

The U.S. authorities said Saturday that Jose Rodolfo Escajeda, also known as “Rikin,” was extradited to the U.S. to stand trial on marijuana and cocaine trafficking charges.

Escajeda, who allegedly worked for the Juarez cartel, was indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in 2006.

U.S. authorities said that from a base in Guadalupe in the Mexicanstate of Chihuahua, Escajeda is alleged to have controlled a drug trafficking corridor for marijuana and cocaine in the area of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, located across from El Paso, Texas.

The U.S. has sought his extradition since his arrest by Mexican authorities in September 2009.

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Reputed Mexico drug kingpin lands in Texas court

Houston Chronicle, 4/27/2010

An aging drug kingpin targeted since 1978 was finally extradited from Mexico to Texas, where prosecutors contend his syndicate pumped tons of drugs and millions of dollars through Houston, California, Arizona and elsewhere.

Juan Jose Quintero Payan, 68, is the alleged head of the Quintero syndicate, based in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The organization is tied by name and blood to the traffickers who helped kidnap, torture and murder DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena a generation ago. Quintero is the uncle of notorious Mexican trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, who has been imprisoned in Mexico for his role in Camarena’s killing in 1985.

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Mexico-US Hold Extradition Talks

BBC, 11/2/09

Arturo Chavez and US Attorney General Eric Holder are expected to discuss further co-operation in the extradition of suspected criminals to the US.

Eleven fugitives were transferred over the Mexican border on Sunday, bringing the total extradited this year to 100.

The US says this is a sign of increased co-operation between the two countries.

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